22 countries participate in Rickshaw Run 2016

The Rickshaw Run is a three-wheeler event organised by UK company The League of Adventurists

The Rickshaw Run

The Rickshaw Run is a three-wheeler event organised by UK company The League of Adventurists. With its 104 teams and 275 participants, this edition is said to be the biggest one since the first Rickshaw Run in 2006.

The team members from around the world are gathering in Kochi and meeting their painted rickshaws. The teams are about to embark on a journey to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. The teams have no set route and back up along the way.

The participants representing 22 countries shall be riding across the subcontinent, covering approximately 3500 kms on their way to Jaisalmer. They will gather together at Palolem, Goa on Tuesday January 5 before setting north. Each team is said to raise GBP 1000 for charity; around half of the amount will be going towards the rainforest preservation charity, Cool Earth.

Matthew Dickens, event manager, said, “This event certainly has a lighter side, but the important message is clear; we plan to introduce our participants to the real India – this is not a typical package holiday. When the teams are lost, stuck and all hope seems futile, Mother India and the generosity of Indians shall envelope them in a fondness that many would not have encountered before. We also like to bring attention lesser travelled places such as Kochi and Jaisalmer. We are thrilled to be raising a large amount of money for charities across the nation too. The Rickshaw Run has now raised over GBP 2,000,000 (around US$ 3.1 million) – which is a boost to the good work that these charities and our official charity Cool Earth are doing. Each Rickshaw Run raises enough money for Cool Earth to save 150,000 trees in some of the most endangered rainforest in the world.”

“Kochi is the birthplace of the Rickshaw Run and is therefore very dear to the event. With its charming and quaint streets it makes an ideal place for the start line of the event, where the teams can relax before commencing on their journey. Jaisalmer is a place dripping with history and the sandstone fort rising majestically from the middle of the Thar desert screams adventure like possibly nowhere else in India,” Dickens added.